Peter's smug feeling didn't last long, because he found himself in a heap of trouble.
Ever since then, his name seemed to have spread among the Vampire Group, everyone knew there was a guy called Spider Man, intending to single-handedly confront the vampires of the world.
Peter didn't know who had given him such a high reputation. He merely wanted to single-handedly wipe out a small vampire base, which he had successfully done.
His next plan was to hit another bigger base, but now, it's as if he'd provoked a rat's nest. As soon as he showed up in New York as Spider Man, a bunch of giant bats would chase after him, biting at his heals.
Peter was swinging between the buildings in Brooklyn Area, with two or three bats trailing behind him. But at this point, Peter's mind was incredibly clear. He took a sharp turn in the air, swinging around the corner of a building and causing the leading bat to crash into the wall corner.
Then he let go of his web and plummeted. The other bats followed him in descent. About two meters from the ground, Spider Man shot out a web-line and swung up again, leaving the bats that couldn't brake in time to crash into the ground.
Peter noticed he had changed a lot. His head was now packed with tactical plans, and the topography of half of Brooklyn City Area was clear in his mind, knowing where he could shake off his pursuers, where he could hide — everything was clearly visible.
Though he used to hang around this block often, he had seen the terrain but soon forgot about it. Who'd have thought they would come in handy, resurfacing in his mind now? Spider Man was fascinated by this feeling, it made him feel in complete control.
After shaking off two more bats using a similar tactic, Spider Man stopped on top of a building only to have a black mist suddenly appear behind him. A sharp claw came swinging at him. His spider-sense went off, and Peter rolled away, then knelt on the ground, eyes fixed on the black mist.
The black mist solidified into a figure, a white-haired man in a medieval suit appeared in front of Spider Man. Like other vampires, he was pale and grim, but he appeared more arrogant. He said: "Spider Man, are you the one who wants to go against the great Blood Clan?"
"Blood Clan? You're nothing more than a bunch of winged rats."
Spider Man slowly stood up, finding his voice lower than the other's, "You don't really think the rat leader is any more noble than the others, do you?"
This comment enraged his adversary. The white-haired vampire immediately turned into a cloud of black mist and teleported right in front of Spider Man. Peter's spider-sense chimed again, he took another roll away, web-slinging at the stacked boxes on the roof. A stack of boxes was thrown at the cloud of black mist which had to solidify and fend off with its arms.
In that split second, Spider Man had disappeared.
Hovering mid-air, Spider Man mumbled to himself, "What was I yelling at him just now? That was so harsh."
He touched his own face and said, "Is this really me? Would I say something like that?"
Although Spider Man is usually a chatty person, he primarily uses trash talk to distract his opponents, rarely is it this poignant. Normally, Peter's not really good at insulting others. Even when he's trying to distract his opponents, his tone usually has a playful inflection.
But he had just about angered that advanced vampire to death. Peter found it a bit unbelievable, but at the same time, quite thrilling.
He thought the words he said were simply amazing. So what if they could use magic? Weren't they still winged rats?
Just returned to Queens District, Peter saw a street in the center was flickering with fire. He hurriedly swung over, only to find the chaos was unfolding on a street not far from Midtown high school. The police were in a gunfire showdown with the vampires.
Spider Man internally cursed under his breath. He realized he had fallen into a trap. No wonder those giant bats chasing him earlier were hounding him out of the Queens District. Luckily, he remained clear-headed and didn't get entangled with the advanced vampire, otherwise they would have succeeded in their scheme.
Just as Peter was about to go and offer some help, he could see Gwen and her father George near the crossfire area. George was shielding Gwen with his arm. As the police gunfire weakened, the front line was being held back by many advanced vampires. The place where the father-daughter duo stood was getting increasingly dangerous.
Peter was extremely anxious and wanted to swoop down and rescue the pair instantly. But the advanced vampire he had interfered with earlier caught up with him again.
This type of vampire was different from ordinary ones. They could use teleportation magic and summon claws from the black mist.
Teleportation wasn't much of a threat to Peter, after all, he had his spider-sense. Whenever the vampire approached, Peter's spider-sense would alert him, and then he could dodge.
However, the magic skill of summoning claws from the black mist posed quite the problem for Peter.
While moving mid-air, Spider Man primarily relied on his webs. That advanced vampire wasn't a fool. After seeing this, he aimed his magic directly at Peter's webs. Every time Peter tried to swing by, his web was cut by the claw magic, forcing him to quickly change directions.
Under such disturbance, Peter was unable to go and rescue his girlfriend and her father at the first instant. As the battle-line was continuously pushed back, the people on the ground were running out of space to retreat, the school district was right behind them. Knowing George's character, Peter knew he would never allow the monsters to rush into the school.
With his heart consumed by anxiety and regret for not having enhanced the strength of his webs, several vampires began to surround George and Gwen. The anxiety and rage burning inside Peter almost swallowed him, and he felt something stirring in his arm as his web was cut off once more.
Acting on instinct, Peter shot another web. This time, instead of white, it was black slime.
After the black web stuck to the wall, facing the claw magic again, it was as if it came to life. Even when it was cut a little, more slime would surge up until the web became very tough, and the magic claw couldn't cut it off.
Just like that, Peter rapidly arrived at the scene of the crossfire, sticking a car with his black web and swinging it hard. The vampires oppressing the police were directly knocked away and slammed against the wall, shocking all the policemen as well as Gwen and George.
An enraged Spider Man then picked up a lamppost. The rest of the vampires, sensing danger, tried to turn into bats and escape, but Spider Man started whacking them with the lamppost like playing whack-a-mole. As soon as the police recovered from their initial shock, they charged forward and delivered the finishing blows.
After venting, Peter turned around to see that George and Gwen were no longer in danger. He really wanted to go over and check on them, but in the end, he hesitated for a moment and then left using his Web-slinging.
When he had finally calmed down, he noticed his arm and was astonished. There was nothing wrong with it. Peter began muttering to himself, "What just happened? What was all that black Spider Silk?"
He fiddled with his wrist and detached the miniature Spider Silk Launcher from his battlesuit. He opened the case and saw that the contents were the same. He tried it once more, and the launcher still shot out white Spider Silk.
This ignited an intense curiosity within Peter. Had he unlocked some new ability? He began experimenting, firing off Spider Silk in every which way.
To any onlooker, it would look like some weirdo in a jumpsuit on a rooftop, making all sorts of silly movements. It was quite comical.
After messing around for a while, Peter had exhausted himself and still hadn't managed to recreate the mysterious black Spider Silk.
Peter thought perhaps his technique was off. As he was about to try some upside-down maneuvers, a voice finally spoke up in his mind that couldn't bear it anymore, "Stop trying! Are you a moron?"
Peter was startled, jumping in place and looking around in every direction, "What?? Who are you?! Where are you talking from?!"
"I'm in your head! Didn't you notice at all?"
Peter's eyes widened in shock, "In my head? Who are you? Do I have a split personality? Oh my God! I need to go see Doctor Schiller!"
"No, no, no! Don't go! You don't need a doctor, I'm not a personality of yours, oh, dammit! Stop!! Don't go running away!!"
Peter hesitated for a moment and halted, "Then who are you?"
"I'm a luckless Alien Symbiote. They call me Venom. The rest, your brain might not be able to comprehend; you just need to know that I came to help."
"Alien Symbiote? An alien? That's so cool! But why are you inside me?"
"Because you are a brainless weakling. If I didn't step in just now, you would be dead…"
"How can you say that? Even without you, I would have found a way!"
"Don't tell me you thought all these recent ideas were yours?"
"Aren't they?"
Peter finally made the connection as he realized he has been a little different lately. He surprisingly began planning everything first. Sometimes one plan wasn't enough, and he'd prepare several backups in his mind. His reaction time during battles and his ability to come up with tactics during a crisis have also dramatically improved.
"So, is that your doing?" Peter asked, "Are aliens like you really this amazing? You live inside my body and you help me think?... Wait a minute, did you just sigh? Why did you sigh? I mean, I'm not as smart as you, but I'm not stupid enough to make you sigh right?"
"Forget it, what are you going to do about these people who are after you?"
Peter hesitated and scratched his head, "I usually lose them after a few rounds."
"Are you planning to play with them like this every day?"
"Why not? I mean, I have a lot of free time."
"Well I don't!!!" Venom roared, "Just finish them off so we can eat their heads!!"
"There are so many of them, how can I possibly...Wait, what did you just say you wanted to eat?"
"Listen, you are the most stupid human I have ever met, hands down." Venom said.
"Now use your less than radiant brain to come up with a plan that's at least passable, then take them all down, so we can finally take a break!"
"Aliens need to take a break too?" Peter asked, "Why do you seem so rushed? Do you have some sort of objective?"
Venom, sounding rather manic, replied, "The better question is, why are you so leisurely! You have plenty of time to plan a perfect strategy to defeat all those enemies, why are you just sitting here?"
"Can you get moving? Find a room, think it over, come up with 200 battle plans and put them into action! Right now! Hurry!!!"
Peter's head was buzzing, "Can you keep your voice down? You sound like my homeroom teacher."
"Besides, it's not like I'm about to take final exams. I just wanted to deal with the two strongholds in this district, and I've already completed my goal. I even plan to go on a date with Gwen tomorrow..."